Still Missing

On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a 32-year-old Realtor, had three goals: sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she’s about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all.

Cades Cove

Buried deep in a ravine in the picturesque Smoky Mountains is a very dark secret. David Hobbs, vacationing with his wife Miriam, inadvertently stumbles upon a small cloth "keepsake" bag and a broken tooth. A human tooth. Miriam begs David to hand the bag and tooth over to park officials, but he ignores his wife's pleas and secretly keeps the "harmless" items.

While the narrator did a fine job...for a guy with an Australian/New Zealand accent, he wasn't at all convincing as a character from Tennessee. The accent and pronunciation of common, everyday words was just off-putting. And the story was amateurish and shallow. I decided on this book on a recommendation of a friend who had read it. Maybe it translates better in the written format, but it just didn't work for me as an audible offering.

Jodi Picoult's poignant number one New York Times best-selling novels about family and love tackle hot-button issues head on. In The Storyteller, Sage Singer befriends Josef Weber, a beloved Little League coach and retired teacher. But then Josef asks Sage for a favor she never could have imagined - to kill him. After Josef reveals the heinous act he committed, Sage feels he may deserve that fate. But would his death be murder or justice?

I love a good Nazi-hunting story, and while that was just a portion of this narrative, it offered up a moving tale of Holocaust survival and all the pain and horror that implies. The story was interesting, the performances were outstanding, and it was well worth the time I spent listening to it. I found myself looking forward to opportunities in the car when I could slip back into the lives of Minke and Sage.

Man's Search for Meaning

Internationally renowned psychiatrist, Viktor E. Frankl, endured years of unspeakable horror in Nazi death camps. During, and partly because of his suffering, Dr. Frankl developed a revolutionary approach to psychotherapy known as logotherapy. At the core of his theory is the belief that man's primary motivational force is his search for meaning.

The stories of Frankl's time in concentration camps are very moving and compelling. The second part of the book that includes a discussion of his theories about psychology were less interesting to me. However, Simon Vance is the best male narrator in the business. I'd gladly listen to him read legal contracts...and enjoy it.

A Week in Winter

Stoneybridge is a small town on the west coast of Ireland where all the families know one another. When Chicky Starr decides to take an old, decaying mansion set high on the cliffs overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, everyone thinks she is crazy. Helped by Rigger (a bad boy turned good who is handy around the house) and Orla, her niece (a whiz at business), Chicky is finally ready to welcome the first guests to Stone House’s big warm kitchen, log fires, and understated elegant bedrooms.

Back in the day, Maeve Binchy's book, Circle of Friends, was one of my favorites. I'm discovering that these days I prefer something with more action. That said, this book is a charming, heartfelt solid Binchy offering. She definitely knew a thing or two about human nature.

Swan Song

Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the government responds with a nuclear attack. America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen - from the President of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City - will fight for survival. In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity.

I really like McGammon's Matthew Corbett books, and I love Stephen King's The Stand, so I thought that this book was a sure thing. There were moments when I thought I might get into it, but it never happened. Sadly, I couldn't even finish this one. Talented narrator, though.

Witches of East End

The three Beauchamp women—Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid—live in North Hampton, out on the tip of Long Island. Their beautiful, mist-shrouded town seems almost stuck in time, and all three women lead seemingly quiet, uneventful existences. But they are harboring a mighty secret—they are powerful witches banned from using their magic. Joanna can resurrect people from the dead and heal the most serious of injuries....

More than 20 New York Times best-selling authors team up to create a first-rate serial novel -- a collaboration that combines the skills of America’s greatest storytellers to produce a gripping, spellbinding mystery.

The variety of narrators is a little off-putting. Even in books with multiple narrators (like The Help), the first person narration is normally done in a common voice for that character. That said, the story is interesting, if a little predictable.

Bossypants

Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV. She has seen both these dreams come true. At last, Tina Fey's story can be told....

A Discovery of Witches

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library.

Why all the unnecessary back story? Why did it take so long for the story to really develop? Why the insipid romance? Oh boy, I really wanted to like this one. But I just couldn't make it happen. What a disappointment.

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